Confusing tests and levels

Jump to latest Follow Reply
W

wa1tx

0
Aug 31, 2014
7
Round Rock, Texas
Hi

I am a fairly new pool owner. We filled the pool Aug 24,2014. I have been lurking here since I found the site and go through posts and pool school topics. I still have a lot to learn and am working through pool school still. I received the tf-100 test kit about 2 weeks ago. In the past two weeks I have only added 2 gallons of conditioner. No chlorine or MA has been added. Today I added 2 pounds of soda ash because of PH reading.

Here are the numbers from today:

FC 17
CC 0
TA 20
CH 575 (we have extremely hard water)
TC > 5
PH < 6.8
CYA 30

I am confused on how my numbers are so out of range. I ran all the tests twice to confirm since they were so out of whack. The SWG was set to 60% so I turned it down to 40%. We did get about an 1.5" of rain last week. Water temp is about 62 degrees.

Could this just be an anomaly or something to be concerned with? If it is something to be concerned about, what should I do? Thanks in advance.
 
Welcome to TFP!

Your FC level is way too high. You need to take care of that right away because the high FC level may be interfering with the PH test.

Turn off the SWG for a day or two, and when you turn it back on turn it down to about 20 percent. After a day with the SWG off, the FC level should come down below 10. If it doesn't, leave the SWG off for another day.

Once the FC level is below 10, test the PH and adjust as needed to get the PH to be between 7.0 and 7.8.

After the PH is back in range, test and adjust the TA to bring TA up to at least 60. However, adjusting the PH might take care of this.
 
Work was insane last week and I am just now getting back to the pool.

Today's numbers

FC 8
CC 0
TC 8
CH 650
TA 40
CYA 30
PH 7.8-8.2 (I have trouble with red colors)

SWG has been turned off since it was suggested and I can't smell chlorine like I could before. I did pool math and to get TA up from 40 to 60 add 80oz of baking soda. I think I will test again tomorrow and add baking soda if needed at that time. I am also leaving the SWG off a little longer to get chlorine more in range. I am also going to hold off adding conditioner for a couple more tests.

Is that approach too conservative?
 
There shouldn't be a problem with adding the CYA now. Pretty soon the water will be too cold for the SWG to generate chlorine if you are not heating the pool, but you want it to be ready in the spring when the water warms back up. As long as you keep the chlorine in range for your CYA it should be fine.
 
Thanks for the info on the water temp and swg. I didn't know that. I went and read some posts on that after you said it and the water is probably too cold now. At least it feels too cold. I think I will just leave it off and dose manually until the spring.
 
I would suggest you use PoolMath for your additions. Have you seen it in the upper center-left portion of your screen?

"eyeballing" is a sure bet to start chasing your numbers wondering why they are "confusing".
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply